Aus Legal Careers Advance

"And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life." - J.K. Rowling As Angela Duckworth has noted , "grit" is a significant predictor of success (and, in particular, long-term success).   It is synonymous with resilience, perseverance and a "never give up" attitude in the face of adversity and failure. According to Wikipedia , grit is a positive, non-cognitive trait based on an individual's perseverance of effort combined with the passion for a particular long-term goal or end state. Photo by Dulcey Lima on Unsplash So why is "grit" important for your professional career?  After all, for some of you, failure has been and will be a foreign concept throughout high school and university.  You graduated high school with a 99.95 ATAR, you are on track to graduate with First Class Honours in your law degree and you will secure a seasonal clerkship offer (and subsequent graduate position) at a top-tier law firm.   However, n...

"While it is wise to learn from experience, it is wiser to learn from the experiences of others. “ - Rick Warren The best way to learn how to navigate any clerkship/job application process is to learn from those who have "been there, done that". Whilst you can learn valuable things from a firm's recruitment team, former clerks or partners at a networking or careers event, these events often do not provide the "safe space" that a 1-on-1 mentoring relationship tends to offer.   Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash I personally found it beneficial to have a mentor who was a BigLaw lawyer and had done a clerkship to bounce thoughts and ideas off.  What could you ask of a mentor? You might ask a mentor to: Identify areas for development as a job applicant Identify job, networking and professional development opportunities  Review and provide feedback on your resume and cover letters Assist with your interview preparation (including informing you of common law fir...

“First impressions last. You start behind the eight ball, you'll never get in front.” - Harvey Specter from Suits Acing the "Tell me/us about yourself" question As the opening question to most, if not all, interviews, this is arguably the most important question in any interview.   Why?  Well, according to HireVue, it is estimated that 30% of interviewers make their decision about an interviewee within the first five minutes of the interview .  Within the first 7 seconds of meeting you, people will form an impression of who you are . Your answer to this question will provide an interviewer (whether it is an HR representative or a law firm partner) with their first impression of you (and consequently, will set the tone for the rest of the interview).    For that reason, it is important that you can rattle off your answer with confidence (and, to do so, generally requires most people to know exactly what they will say and to practise their answer).  ...

Whether you are an Australian university student in your: first-year thinking about how to secure future internship/clerkship or graduate roles; penultimate year applying for summer clerkship, vacationer or internship programs; or  final year applying for graduate programs or entry-level roles, it is important to understand how you can stand out amongst other university students when there is stiff competition for these roles. There is, of course, no magic formula for the "perfect" candidate.  However, from what I have observed as a law student and as a lawyer (who has seen seasonal clerks and graduates come through), strong candidates tend to have at least some of the following: Strong academic results :  Technical excellence is valued by many, if not all, top-tier and mid-tier law firms.  Unfortunately, the reality is that an obvious marker of "technical excellence" is the average result (e.g. WAM/GPA) achieved by a student in their law degree.  Whilst many f...

As summer clerkship applications loom in New South Wales, thousands of penultimate year and final year law students across the state are in the process of updating their resumes, preparing their cover letters and attending informative student law society and law firm events. Given the limited amount of law firms and seasonal clerkship positions at each firm, the reality is that (for many of you) you will, unfortunately, receive no clerkship offers or miss out on offers from your preferred firm(s). Every year, the competition for summer clerkship positions becomes increasingly fierce. For those who do end up getting an offer or even multiple offers, many congratulations. The rest of this written piece will be irrelevant to you. For those who end up with no offers, it will probably suck (especially if you are genuinely interested in a career in commercial law). As someone who ended up with no clerkship offers back then, I have first-hand experience with that feeling of rejection.  I ...